Three New Utility-Scale Solar Farms Add 20 MW to North Carolina’s Solar Surge

Three New Utility-Scale Solar Farms Add 20 MW to North Carolina’s Solar Surge

First
Half of $100 Million Q3 Investment in the North Carolina Solar Market Deployed

CHAPEL HILL, NC –Three new North Carolina utility-scale
solar farms have begun producing power, racking up another 18.2 MW, equal to
taking about 2,400 passenger vehicles off the road for the year. A significant portion of the investment
responsible for the projects was managed by Washington, D.C.–based solar
investment and financing firm, Sol Systems.

“Tax structured investments have been critical to
driving capital into the solar asset class,” commented Yuri Horwitz, CEO of Sol
Systems. “North Carolina is an
especially attractive market, and we will deploy tax equity into another 18 to
20 MW before the end of the year,” he added.

Projects of this size are highly complex and require
capital and expertise from multiple sources. Sol Systems managed the investment
on behalf of an insurance client as part of the firm’s tax equity initiative to
produce secure, sustainable solar investments for banks, insurance companies,
utilities, and Fortune 100 clients. Strata Solar developed the project
opportunities, and National Cooperative Bank served as the lender in the
transactions.

"Strata Solar continues to lead the North Carolina
market in solar deployment," said David Scoglio, Strata Solar CFO.
"We have been fortunate to work with several strong partners in the tax
aggregate space to help us continue to grow the solar footprint across the
state."

“National Cooperative Bank has a
strong commitment to the solar industry, and we look forward to working with
Strata Solar and Sol Systems on future transactions,” said Matthew Wright,
Senior Vice President, National Cooperative Bank.

This is the first half of a the investment that the
partners will channel into the North Carolina solar market, which now ranks
fourth in the country having installed 592 MW of solar electric capacity
according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

The three new arrays will displace about 16,000 tons of
carbon dioxide each year, about the same as providing electricity for 2,300
homes for one year. The farms, located
in Laurinburg, Clarkton, and Spring Hope, are home to 60,436 solar panels and
are projected to produce 30 million kilowatt hours annually.

About Sol SystemsSol Systems is a renewable energy finance firm that provides
secure, sustainable investment opportunities to investor clients, and
sophisticated project financing solutions to developers. Founded in 2008, Sol Systems focuses on
meeting the industry’s most critical solar financing needs, including tax
structured investments, capital placement, debt financing, and SREC portfolio
management. To date, the company has facilitated financing for thousands of
distributed generation solar projects and hundreds of millions in investment on
behalf of Fortune 100 corporations, utilities, banks, family offices, and
individuals. For more information, please visit www.solsystemscompany.com.

About Strata Solar, LLC.Strata Solar is a national leader of utility-scale solar energy
systems and installations. Strata’s unique, low impact, standardized approach
to solar farm creation is supported through its vertical divisions which offer
complete turnkey services for the design, construction and installation of
utility and commercial photovoltaic systems. Strata also offers a full array of
development, engineering, procurement, construction, operation and maintenance
services to companies interested in clean renewable energy. Strata is
headquartered in Chapel Hill, N.C., with an expansive O&M facility nearby.
For more information, please visit www.StrataSolar.com.

About NCB
NCB is dedicated to strengthening communities nationwide through the delivery
of banking and financial services, complemented by a special focus on
cooperative expansion and economic development. Headquartered in Washington,
DC, the Bank has offices in Alaska, California, New York, Ohio and Virginia. To
learn more, visit www.ncb.coop, National Cooperative Bank on Facebook, or on
Twitter @coopbanking.